Truckers keep America rolling. About 90% of all freight is carried by trucks. Truckers haul food, clothing, building supplies, newspaper, soda pop, gasoline, shampoo, lunch bags, aspirin, flowers, hot dogs, perhaps each of the products listed under the 72,000 product headings of the Thomas Register®, and probably more. 75% of the communities in America are serviced only by the truck, with none of these communities receiving freight by planes, trains or barges or by any other means of transportation. Indeed, when the trucking industry hits rough times, economists use such as a barometer for predicting bad times for America as a whole.
Most of the trucking companies in the United States are relatively small. For example, 80% of the truck companies in the United States have 20 or fewer trucks in their fleets. With a relatively low number of trucks, there is little room for cost overruns. Increases in diesel fuel, taxes, insurance rates and other costs hit the little man hard.
Even though the relatively large trucking companies too suffer in hard times, such large trucking companies can weather the storm better. For example, large trucking companies have established clients who themselves are often Fortune 500 companies.
Truckers themselves, though they may stop driving, may never leave the trucking industry. A few become an owner of a truck, hire a driver to drive the truck, and over time own a fleet of trucks. Others open a truck stop or a restaurant at a truck stop. Others work for truck insurance agencies or go to work for federal or state authorities regulating trucks. Still others work in sales or service.